Full Member

joined:Apr 21, 2004
posts:306
votes: 0

You can't remember if you have boyfriend.co.nz or boyfriends.co.nz or both.

That's a whole other problem of mine. I've fallen prey to the marketing departments of these registrars that whisper into your ear as you're registering someobscuredomainname.com, "You better get the .net, .org, and .info or somebody else will... and then they'll hunt you down and steal your web site and beat you half to death."

And so I give in to the voices.

And then they whisper, "You better get the plural or somebody will surely snatch it up and they'll demand your first born in exchange for it" (Which 7 people will EVER accidentally type in)

And so I give in again.

And then they whisper, "What if hypens become more commonplace, and people think you mean 'some-obscure-domain-name.com? What will you do then, when somebody steals it? Better get it..."

And again, I give in.

And pretty soon I've got 23 domain names (true story - happened to me yesterday) all variations of the same obscure 3-word phrase.

And then as an afterthought I decide to theck out uspto.gov and see if anybody has trademarked this ridiculously obscure phrase. And some ass trademarked it and now I've wasted over $100 because I don't want to mess with the fear of a potential suit.

So the lesson of the story is you should never buy any domain names. Geocities is such a cool name anyways, just to have it in your URL definitely kicks up the cool factor by at least 3.

Full Member

Out of the 100's of domain names I've registered over the years, I've received 1 inquiry.

It was something along the lines of, "Do you want to sell that domain name?"

"Sure," I replied.

...

and then I never heard back from the guy.

I have a terrible affliction in which I fall in love with domain names. I think of something that sounds "neat" and then I go get the domain name. Unfortunately, nobody else agrees, and when the year comes up I've not made any progress on my lofty plans for development and/or have not received the huge offers for the name.

So I go through the excruciating decision of whether or not to let it drop, and I feel like crap regardless of which decision I make and regardless of how terrible the domain name was.

Moderator This Forum

You know you have to many domain names when the cost of the registrations exceeds the income stream directly related to the domain names: PPC landing pages and domain sales.

A developed domain that's making money? No issue.

Otherwise, if the combined income doesn't exceed the cost of keeping them you've got too many.

Now, back to the other version of answers.

You know you have too many when you accept that you will drop one every now and again simply because you have too many.

You know you have too many when the vertical scroll bar, the one you use to scroll through your domain list, gets so small you have to look hard to find it.

You know you have too many when the registrars start contacting you personally about deals.

You know you have too many when you can no longer fathom building that many websites.

You know you have to many when you start breaking the domains down into categories so you can manage them.

You know you have too many when the pages for managing them start to time-out when you do a download.

You know you have too many when you are assigned a personal account rep.

You know you have to many when you start hanging out in domain forums.

You know you have too many when you start to wonder just how many it takes to have too many.

You know you have too many when you feel slightly concerned that John Doe may have more domains than you do - and that matters.

You know you have too many when you form virtual friendships based upon the fact that someone else has too many.

You know you have too many when determining which domains to cull and which to keep becomes a multi-day process.

You know you have too many when the ones you choose to cull at any particular moment will save you enough to pay your mortgage for a few months.

You know you have too many when you start doing the math to compare the Marchex buy of UltSearch with what they'd have to pay at those rates to buy your holdings.

You know you have too many when you know every trick in the book about acquiring more domains, then you learn some new trick that somebody with more domains than you passes along - which tells you that there's likely even a new and better trick that they're not telling you.

You know you have too many domains when you can post this many observations about possible signs that you have too many domains.

You know you have too many domains when you post this much on the subject thinking that anyone else would have the slightest interest in reading it.

You know you have too many domains when you know that someone else in the same situation WILL read it - looking for answers. ;0)

Don't have too many domains. Have just the right number: Where the time and expense/cost is < the profit you make for the risk and effort.

Good luck.

Seek help if you need help it, for I'm certain that for many people acquiring domains has been the latest version of compulsive gambling.

New User

joined:May 18, 2005
posts:37
votes: 0

Roldar you are so funny! Webwork you made me cry laughing!

I have had 2 offers on buying 2 separate domain names. One said "I don't mind if it has been used or if it hasn't, if it has how many uniques has it recieved in the last 2 months" so I wrote back the amount which I could varify through the host (must be type ins) and he wrote back saying "you've only had the domain name for 5 months you are a liar" I said "I never asked you to buy it in the first place, you asked me if you could......blah blah" And another asked to by one of my domains and how much I'd sell it for, then preceeded to ask me to get an Evaluation. So I said "No, it's only worth what your willing to pay for it, I don't believe in evaluations". And he told me where to go! I'll never get excited again when someone emails me regarding domains infact I think I'll just hit DELETE.

Junior Member

joined:Dec 28, 2004
posts:90
votes: 0

>>another asked to by one of my domains and how much I'd sell it for, then preceeded to ask me to get an Evaluation

Not too long ago, I get an email asking if I still had a certain domain name and how much would I like for it. I responded with "what do you want to pay?" The response implied, but never explicitly said that he would purchase it at an appraised price - had to be a "good" appraisal though and then suggested two "quality" domain appraisal services.

I wonder how many $59 appraisal fees this technique has generated?

back on topic:

Noticed some strange domain names on my parking report Saturday and spent a few hours figuring out what domains I had and where they were registered. There were probably 2 dozen I had totally lost track of..

Full Member

joined:Apr 21, 2004
posts:306
votes: 0

I guess I didn't include the two times I received offers to buy my domain names which were dependent on appraisals.

The same "tough" guy, at the same email address, both times showed an interest in domain names which are so terrible (value < regfee) that the only way I can defend the fact that they are in my portfolio is that I must have been intoxicated when I registered them.

Both times I courteously explained to him that appraisals are usually scams, and that he should not bank on them. I borrowed a few words from some senior members here, "a domain name is worth what it sells for." I also went on to tell him that he should be careful, because he might hit up the wrong person and be "mistaken" for a somebody trying to run an appraisal scam.

Oddly enough, he took my words to be accusations, and worked himself up into such a tizzy of misspellings and poor grammar that I wonder if he may have been fibbing about being a "lawyer from the UK with an interest in finding high-value Internet properties to invest in as a hobby." I'm far from a wordsmith though, and I guess he may have been speaking Queen's English. I take it "dummass" and "mormon" are curse words across the pond?

Full Member

joined:Apr 21, 2004
posts:306
votes: 0

Webwork:

Seek help if you need help it, for I'm certain that for many people acquiring domains has been the latest version of compulsive gambling.

I agree. I've never been much of a traditional gambler, but the illusion that I could make an "educated wager" was what got me. A while back I really loaded up on all kinds of domain names, thinking I was going to make a bundle.

This is probably the same story for most failed domain name resellers, but until you've actually gone a year sitting on a "gold mine" that nobody wants, the business appears so much easier than it really is.

I've given up on buying names for resale, but whenever I start a new site that I intend to develop I register several variations and other TLDs to protect myself. That can really add up when you're as paranoid about squatters as I am. Cheaper than an hour with an IP lawyer though, I would imagine.

I don't think I was terrible at coming up with names (I have no clue who the people are that try to sell 4widgetcentral-cool-usa5.com on ebay, or what they're thinking), but I didn't understand the industry very well. I had a few that I still think could turn a meager profit if I hold out long enough, but my problem was that I came up with "brandable" rather than generic. The reason I did that is because by the time I got into the game all the generics were taken. I'm sure we've all come up with names that sounded so cool that we just had to get them, regardless of the fact that there is really no intrinsic value in the name.

Preferred Member

joined:Dec 13, 2002
posts:469
votes: 0

Re. the appraisal requests, that sounds like a variation on a scam going around. Basically the idea is to suck you into paying for an inflated "appraisal", at which point the "buyer" disappears and is never heard from again (it was their site you paid for the "appraisal" through, or one they were in league with).

Junior Member

> Then you look at the whois to find out who this damn squatter is, only to find out you registered it a month before and forgot.

Check.

> You can't remember if you have [the singular version, the plural] or both.

Check.

> You know you have too many when you can no longer fathom building that many websites.

I'm fast approaching that point.

>You know you have to many when you start hanging out in domain forums.

Eek. I'm also getting to that point.

> You know you have too many when you start buying domain names as presents for family and friends.

Oh my goodness, yes. I have a friend whose birthday gift is always the renewal of his domain name. He's too lazy to develop the domain, but I guess he's happy to know that he *owns* it. I've also "given" domains to others as an unexpected treat. And they are pleased!

I'm only a "junior member" of the "I Have Too Many Domains" club. (I think I have about 75 domains.) Many of these names are variations on a main domain (like the rest of you, I've got to have the .net and .com and hyphenated version). I don't buy my domains to resell. I have no clue how to buy domains speculatively. I choose names that please me, or that I feel may be something I will develop.

So far I've done at least *something* with perhaps 40% of my domain names, and plan on working (at least a little) on the others within the year. (Crossing fingers.) I am beginning to get "domain name guilt" the same way I do when I collect anything else. (I go through phases where I sew a lot, and therefore I have a lot of fabric. I feel a sense of doom and guilt when I go to buy more fabric, because I Really Have Too Much Fabric.) Well, I'm starting to get that same feeling about buying domains. (Though to be honest, domains are cheaper than a yard of good fabric!)

Oh dear, I just got an idea for another domain name. Off to my registrar of choice! (Shakes fist at this thread for putting me in the mood to get another domain.) ;)